Weekly ForceCast: February 24, 2012
Rumors of more Star Wars 3D in 2012 begin to circulate, Sam Witwer resurrects Darth Maul for The Clone Wars, and Star Wars artist/trivia master Kevin Liell makes his television debut. Plus, a classic Billy Dee quote, Bedtime Stories with Moralo Eval, and much more right here on your Weekly ForceCast! Guests *None. Topics *Jason and Jimmy open the show by discussing AMC's new show Comic Book Men. "I think that it has legs," Jason says. "It's like Pawn Stars but for comic book geeks. It's kinda that same vibe." *Headline News **Licensed Star Wars product sales have topped $20 billion, according to a new report. Jimmy says that this figure will skyrocket once Hasbro starts selling Kitster action figures. **Box Office Mojo is reporting that The Phantom Menace 3D "plummeted" 56% to $9.9 million during its second weekend. **Jedi News picked up a rumor that Episode II may be re-released in 3D this August. The rumor comes from a Fox representative in the U.K. This would contradict what Lucasfilm sources, including Rick McCallum, having been saying -- that the films will be re-released at a rate of one every year. Jason speculates that, with Celebration VI happening in August, a 3D preview of AOTC at that convention might be in the cards. **Another 3D-related rumor has Panasonic bundling the TPM 3D Blu-ray with its home entertainment products later this year. Jason wonders if the 3D copy of the film will also be available as a standalone purchase. Neither he nor Jimmy have 3D TVs yet, and Jimmy says "an upgrade is certainly not in my wheelhouse right now." **Discussion shifts to technical woes that plagued some Star Wars fans' 3D viewings of TPM. Addressing claims that Lucasfilm's conversion was to blame, Jimmy says that the problem was not with John Knoll and his team, but with poorly-calibrated 3D theaters. Jimmy gives out the phone number that he referenced during last week's show: 1-800-PHONE-THX. The number will connect callers to the THX customer support team. Jimmy asks Jason to call the number live on the air so he can air his grievances. He then leaves a comical voicemail for THX. **Following up on his joke from last week's show, Stephen Stanton sent The ForceCast an audio clip called "Bedtime with Moralo Eval, Episode I." The clip features Stanton reading a children's story in his Eval voice. **Author Timothy Zahn has announced that his OT-era Han Solo novel will be "an Ocean's Eleven-type heist caper." As a fan of the Rat Pack, which contributed five of its members to the 1960 Ocean's 11 film, Jason is pleased by this news. "Maybe I'll find another reason to pick up an EU novel," he says. **R.A. Salvatore, who wrote the New Jedi Order novel Vector Prime, recently said in a Reddit Q&A that killing Chewbacca is the only thing in his writing career that he regrets doing. Salvatore killed the famous Wookiee after Lucas Licensing asked him to do it. He told Reddit, "I don't think I'd go back and do that one again." *Jason reads from a listener email about Anakin Skywalker's conception in the novel Darth Plagueis. He and Jimmy then discuss that topic and other issues that came up during their roundtable discussion of James Luceno's book. Those issues including Shmi's abduction, Yoda's distrust of Palpatine, and Jar Jar's role in the formation of the Empire. *Billy Dee Quote of the Week **This week's quote comes from a clip of Williams discussing "the power of Colt 45" in an ad for the drink. *Star Wars in Pop Culture **Jason and Jimmy return to discussing AMC's Comic Book Men, which stars Kevin Smith and also features friend of The ForceCast Kevin Liell in a recurring role. They play clips from the most recent episode, in which a man claims to have a screen-used Luke Skywalker lightsaber prop from A New Hope and Liell gets called in to verify his claim. The episode reveals that the prop was not used for ANH -- it was actually a prop from The Empire Strikes Back. Liell tells the owner that the prop is worth around $7,000. *Jason and Jimmy discuss the latest bit of TCW casting news: Sam Witwer is the voice behind Darth Maul, who will return to Star Wars as part of the final story arc of TCW Season 4. Entertainment Weekly first previewed Maul's return, but the only word spoken in the video was "JEDI!!!!!" MTV then exclusively confirmed that Witwer was the voice behind Maul with a second video. Significant quotes *Quotes go here.